Organization

Ok, so, I have a confession, and a question. A Confestion. I’m an artsy guy, and as such the left side of my brain isn’t exactly in the driver’s seat when it comes to organization. I’ve managed to make a few attempts at organizing the collection, mostly the typical binders (albeit with interesting spines)…

That’s a small sample size, the rest are on my desk, or on the chair next to my desk, on on the credenza near the desk, you get the idea.

I’ve also made strides in organizing my extra base/inserts/parallels as well…

Everything is organized by team, ready to go, usually to add to a trade package just for the heck of it. Note, that’s a slightly older pic from a couple weeks ago, I filled the 5th column with Heritage and Bowman Platinum this weekend.

So, that’s how I handle most of my organizing. Things I’m keeping go into my binders, random cards go in the box by team. Organized right? Well, now it’s time for the confession. These are some of my hits…

Hits along the back in the top-loaders, Sox to be sorted towards the front-left, tradebait on the right. This extends all across my desk. I have piles. I make piles everywhere. I don’t really know how else to do it. I tried having binders of hits, but I guess I just can’t find the right combination of album pages. Nothing seems to fit. I get the bigger pocket pages and things fall out. I try using regular pages and I feel like I destroying corners on most of them. So, piles of top-loaders have been my go to for the moment.

Then I found something. Actually, my brother-in-law did. He works at a cigar shop and brought over the largest cigar box they had. It’s long, deep, and mainly smelled like cigars (obviously). I took a wet rag, wiped it out, waited for it to dry, wiped it a second time with Fabreeze, and a third time with water again. Then I closed it up with a huge silica gel packet in it. Then I left it open for about a month. It barely smells at all any more and when it does, it just faint cedar.

Inexplicably, two One-Touch holders fit perfectly vertically, and I can get about 8 deep and roughly 20-30 top-loaders per spot, with about 10 spots in the whole box. I have the space for about 80 magnetic holders, or about 200-250 top-loaders.

So, my question for you guys is this:

Cedar box, worth using as a storage box?

I’ve been very diligent in getting out the cigar smell. I’m fairly confident there’s not much left to influence the smell of the cards, but I’m not 100% positive. I also know that large cedar chests have been used for hundreds of years for storing keepsakes in. We have a large cedar chest in our bedroom for quilts and blankets and such. Cedar naturally repels moisture and rot, insects and molds.

So, what do you guys think? Would you use a large cedar box to store cards in? Would you be worried about the smell? Any other concerns? Any better ideas of storing cards that aren’t going in binders?

Oh yeah, myself I wouldn’t have any use for the cigar box. I don’t collect hits and all my cards go in binders not top loaders. So every original Ted Williams I have is in a binder with the rest of the team set.

Matt
on November 14, 2012 at 9:22 am

Hmm, interesting thought. Card catelogs look beautiful, just as furniture in general, but unless I stumble across one at a yard sale, they’re actually pretty hard to find.

Yeah, the majority of my cards are actually in binders, but it’s the thicker hits that I can’t seem to figure out what to do with. A basic Triple Thread relic won’t fit in a standard binder page, and the 6-pocket “for older cards” type seems too loose.

I’ve just got to knuckle down and finish the display case I’ve been working on. Right now it’s a pile of sanded lumber in my garage.